Another round of bitterly cold temperatures and snowfall this week may not mean extra days will be tacked on at the end of the year if school is canceled again.

For those students counting the days until school’s out, thank a provision in state law known as an “Act of God Day.”

“Act of God Days were put in so schools don’t lose funding and to keep students from being stuck in school until the end of June,” said Shannon Fehrholz, assistant regional school superintendent for Sangamon County.

The National Weather Service is predicting snow accumulations of 6-8 inches across central Illinois today with a high temperature of 26 degrees.

Wind gusts of 10-20 mph are expected to blow the snow this afternoon and create dangerous driving conditions.

A winter storm warning will remain in effect from this afternoon through Wednesday morning.

The forecast comes on the heels of prior blasts of arctic air into the Midwest that forced school superintendents locally to cancel school Jan. 27 and some districts to also close down Jan. 28.

That brought most area school districts up to four emergency days and others to the limit of five emergency days the Illinois State Board of Education requires to be built into the school calendar.

However, five days may be the most the last day of school is pushed back.

State law allows school districts to apply for an Act of God Day after exhausting all of the emergency days built into their calendars.

Act of God Days may only be used for conditions beyond the control of the district that pose a threat to the health and safety of the students.

The regional and state school superintendents must approve those requests.

Act of God Days reduce the required number of student attendance days in the public school calendar, but they do not negatively affect general state aid, according to the state board of education.

Springfield schools have been canceled four days so far, but other districts, such as Pleasant Plains and Tri-City, have reached the five-day threshold.

The Ball-Chatham School District is only at three days because, unlike most other districts, its students weren’t scheduled to attend the first day back from winter break, spokeswoman Betsy Schroeder said.

Even though it may seem out of the ordinary, state board of education spokeswoman Mary Fergus said canceling this many days of school is not unprecedented.

The state board has approved more than 500 requests for Act of God Days in years past. Fergus noted that Act of God Days could apply to school districts hit by a tornado as well.

There are no plans to increase the number of days it takes before districts statewide can apply for Act of God Days, she said.

Page 2 of 2 - “This year is not out of the norm historically,” Fergus said.